Jewish Man and Other Songs: Poetic Icons of Faith

By Beatrice Heath Tomlinson

The following poems are prayers and songs. Except for Cuba Errante, which is a plea to the Mother of God to intercede for the difficult plight of Cubans both at home and abroad-- these songs are meditations based on biblical passages and themes. I call them poetic icons because, like the ancient pictorial icons of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the intent of these poems is also, first, to focus the attention of the reader into the scene that is being depicted, in order to see the presence of God at work in that particular scene and in its characters; second, the intent is to help readers catch a glimpse of the divine presence and warmth that illuminates each particular scene. Third, as is the case with sacred pictorial icons, it is also the intent of these poems to help readers in the present time identify with the struggles of those ancient biblical characters, and with the way the Spirit of God is still at work now in each of the readers that contemplate these scenes.
I was inspired to write some of these poems in English; others, in Spanish. In some cases, I made the effort to make the poems available in both languages. Thank you for your patience with the bilingual nature of this collection.
Is there music to these songs? Yes, and it is our hope to make it available to you in an ensuing publication. Thank you again!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469127866

Beatrice Heath Tomlinson

Beatrice Heath Tomlinson grew up in Guatemala, the daughter of an American businessman and a Colombian mother. She has lived in the Southeastern United States ever since she attended college in North Carolina, from where she eventually obtained a doctoral degree in Spanish and French at UNC- Chapel Hill. She lives with her husband, daughter, and two dogs in Northwest Alabama, where they keep a highly itinerant schedule as they travel, for her husband’s job, in an RV all around the state, and beyond. Never far from her Catholic roots, devotions and traditions, she has tried to delve deeply into the shared Judeo-Christian spiritual heritage that is at the core of our Western Civilization, in order to sing these new songs of hope and reparation for what now seems to be this civilization’s finest hour.

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Copyright © 2012 by Beatrice Heath Tomlinson.

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Contents

Jewish Man

Mujer Samaritana

Dolorosa

Water into Wine

No Lazy Beauty

No Soy Como Pedro

O’er the Hills

Cuba Errante

Song of Simeon

Canto de Simeón

The Flight into Egypt:

Joseph’s Song

La Huída a Egipto:

Oración de un Pastorcillo por San José

Siervo Fuiste

Hints of a Servant

¿Qué Sería?

Hiding Place

When Esther Prayed

The Promise

Mary’s Lamb—A Passover Song

Corderillo—

All I Can Offer You

Cry of Moses

Llanto de Moisés

We Were Strangers

Fuimos Todos Extranjeros

Zacarías (En Silencio)

Zechariah (In Silence)

The Beatitudes

Ni El Qué Dirán, Ni El Qué Dirían

Dedication

I dedicate these songs to the Jewish Man whose life made it possible for the rest of us to have access to the absolute truth and grace of the Jewish Scriptures—truths that continue to transform humanity in its collective history of salvation.

I do so in honor of my husband, Robert, and my daughter, Silvia Ruth, without whose long-suffering patience for my abstract musings and lyrical renditions, this project would have stopped at its beginning; and in honor of my sister Mary—these songs’ greatest admirer—without whose dear support and wise referral to this publishing house, the end of this project would still be somewhere in the realm of the ethereal.

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Jewish Man

Gen. 22: 16-18

"I will swear by myself, declares the